Hard Truths
by Gottahavemyncis
Summary: Episode Tag to S13, Ep 5, "Lockdown". The truth as I saw it, heard it. Spoilers for "Lockdown". Not for Abby fans. Rated M for language only. No pairings.


Hard Truths

By Gottahavemyncis

Episode Tag to S13, Ep 5, "Lockdown". The truth as I saw it, heard it. So yeah, spoilers for "Lockdown".

Tim was just finishing a leisurely breakfast, something he could only do on weekends the team wasn't working, when his cell buzzed with a text. He made a face, muttering "I am not looking, no call out, please no call out."

Sighing, he finally looked to see that it was from Jimmy Palmer. Probably not a call out then although there had been times…he looked at the text:

"Are you busy? Need to talk, can I come over?"

Hitting reply, he typed, "Not busy, now's good. You ok?"

The answer came back quickly, "Yeah, be there in 30."

Tim shrugged, finished his last bite of waffle and put his dishes in the dishwasher. After showering he dressed and was straightening up the living room when someone knocked on the door.

Opening the door he saw a somewhat frazzled Jimmy and motioned to him to enter. "Thought you said you were ok! What's up?"

"Something said at work, I've been struggling with this since Tuesday, but you need to know."

"Jimmy."

"Gibbs…the other day, he said he knew what Abby's bad side was like, that he'd never want to be on it. And you…all those times he punished you, disrespected you…for things she did…he knew, Tim, he knew!"

Tim stood still staring at him and then he shook his head. "He said that, you heard him?"

"He said it to me, that he knew her bad side!"

Most people thought Timothy McGee didn't have a temper. They were wrong. He had a temper although it generally took a lot to anger him. However, once he was there he had no problem saying what he thought.

Now he stood thinking of all the crap Abby had put him through over the years, from the stalker she let into his apartment after promising not to open the door to anyone, to the inhumane way she'd treated him after the dog mauled him, to the scene in Mexico that led to him offering his life to a drug cartel in exchange for hers because she was a self-important _zona_ , to her self-centered, self-indulgent craziness over that scientist. Gibbs had ridden his ass for all of those things and more, blaming him for each, even down to the taunts and disrespect his supposed teammates had shown him about Abby's short-lived relationship with the park ranger. He stopped to remember that both Tony and Ellie had later apologized. Not Gibbs though and…Gibbs had known…that SOB had known!

All these years, Tim had been Abby and Gibbs' scapegoat. That bastard had never shown him any remorse for the harsh treatment, never expressed anything but anger when he'd _known_ it was Abby.

He shook his head, no more. He was done. He'd lost all trust in and respect for Gibbs.

"Tim…you're not okay with this, are you?"

Tim blinked, he'd forgotten Jimmy was still there. "Tell me exactly what he said." Jimmy repeated the conversation and Tim nodded. "Thanks Jimmy, for telling me."

"What are you going to do?"

"What I should have done years ago."

"Uh…Tim?"

"Talk to Abby and then," he sighed, "talk with Vance and Gibbs. Not sure what order yet."

"I should go with you."

Tim chuckled although there was no humor in it. "Thanks man but it'll be fine."

Jimmy walked out with him and stood watching as Tim got in his car and drove off. He thought about calling Dr. Mallard but decided against it. Tim needed to do this and Ducky would likely want to talk him out of a confrontation.

By the time Tim got in the car, he had a plan. First he would contact Abby who he knew was home today. The nuns were at a retreat and because it was raining and they hadn't gotten the roof on the newest building yet, her work for Habitat for Humanity was on hold this weekend. He grunted, seemed like her charitable work was her attempt to make up for her bad deeds.

As he pulled up to Gibbs' house, he sent Abby a text, telling her they needed to talk and to meet him at Gibbs' house. He was in the house, opening the door to the basement 5 seconds after he sent the text, just in time to hear Gibbs' cell ring.

He paused to listen, not caring if he was eavesdropping. He heard Gibbs say, "He's not here, I don't know what he wants Abs. You done anything to him lately?"

That was enough to dissuade Tim from any doubts he might have had. He waited until Gibbs ended the call before walking down the stairs. He sat down four steps from the bottom, a silent sentry and looked, just looked at his team leader. Leader, huh!

Gibbs looked at him, sighing when he saw anger, hurt and something he'd never seen on McGee's face before, he wasn't sure what it was.

The two waited in silence, Gibbs returning to his woodwork although his mind wasn't on it, his gut was churning and McGee was still staring at him, except that now he was expressionless.

Abby came in, noisy as usual in her boots. "McGee? What do you want?"

"The truth, Sciuto. About the crap you've pulled on me over the years. You can start with telling Gibbs about Mawher and how he really got into the apartment that night. How you disobeyed my orders, broke your promise. And I'm recording this, all of it."

She fidgeted, "That's ancient history."

"Lies, Abby, did you lie to Gibbs or tell him the truth?"

"I uh…I told him the truth, but Tim, it doesn't matter now."

Tim turned to Gibbs, "You knew the truth but told me her lie and punished me for her 'transgressions."

Gibbs just looked at him, beginning to understand the expression. Slowly he nodded.

"To clarify: you knew she opened the door despite my order and her promise?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Say the words."

"Yes, I knew."

"Yet you punished me by taking away my desk chair and having me kneel at my desk, humiliated, for hours?

Gibbs sighed, "Yes."

Tim itemized each one, each of the major situations where Abby had acted against orders, with Gibbs responding. Abby evidently felt she had nothing to worry about, that Gibbs would protect her as she admitted she'd initially lied to Gibbs about some things but eventually told him the truth. He'd known. He admitted it.

When he was through, Tim turned and walked up the stairs and out the door without another word. Back in his car, he drove to a nearby shopping center and parked in the lot to contact Vance, not trusting himself with driving and talking. The Director was at the office and agreed to see Tim.

As his agent walked up the stairs, Gibbs watched him, knowing he'd broken the man's trust. Realizing that what had been no big deal to him, he admitted to himself that he'd even gotten a kick out of some of it, had now destroyed his team. _He'd_ destroyed his team and his only defense was wanting to protect Abby. From what, he no longer knew.

Abby watched Gibbs, "Don't worry, Gibbs, he'll forgive us, he always forgives me and he won't stay mad at you."

He looked at her, "Abby, I'm tired, I've lost him and now I'm going to lose the trust and respect of the rest of my team. I've had enough. Get out and don't expect me to protect you anymore. We're done."

She shrieked, protested, cried what his mother had called 'crocodile tears' (entirely insincere, meant to solicit unwarranted sympathy or entrap whoever they were aimed at), shrieked some more, following him upstairs. He walked through the door onto his front porch and she followed, still shrieking.

Turning around, he walked past her, back into the house, shutting and for once locking the door behind him. He was done with her and he thought probably done at the agency. Jenny had known everything that occurred during her tenure but she hadn't had much use for McGee and said nothing. Vance would not be so understanding.

Gibbs was right. As Vance listened to the recording, his anger got away from him and he bit down so hard on a toothpick that he broke it. Growling, he spat out the pieces. Pushing his chair back, he stalked to the window, staring out as he continued to listen.

Finally the recording finished playing and he turned to Tim. "We need to copy that…strike that, I need to keep your phone so Legal and HR can listen to the original. But let's talk about you first."

Tim nodded, "Appreciate it. I no longer trust Gibbs, I can't work with either of them. I'd like a transfer Sir and I'd prefer not to be anywhere near them."

"Off the Yard then? Although I doubt either of them will be here long."

Tim nodded mutely.

"Yes we can do that but no, this is not going to be 'just' a transfer. We're going to do this right, McGee, what I've been offering you for years now. A promotion and transfer."

Vance returned to his desk, now a man on a mission, opened one of his desk drawers and sorting through various sections, pulled out five folders. "Here, take a look at these, pick which one works best for you. Then we'll talk."

Pointing Tim to the conference table, he waited until the younger man got settled and then went out to Pam Cook's desk to make a few phone calls. One to the head of HR, one to the head of the Legal Dept. and the third call was to his home to let them know he was going to be awhile. Then he made some notes.

He smiled as his cell buzzed with a text from McGee, he needed more time. Reentering his office, he looked at his agent. "Having problems deciding?"

Tim nodded, "Not exactly in the right frame of mind and I need to discuss all of it with Delilah. What are the report dates on these, Director? And how soon do you need to know my decision?"

Vance told him and watched as he wrote them down. Finished, Tim looked up again, "Delilah's working this weekend and off Monday. I've already scheduled Monday as a personal day; I'd like to take the whole week."

"That's understandable Timothy."

"Thank you Director Vance." He paused in the doorway, "Sir, about DiNozzo and Bishop…I'll be talking with them this weekend. Telling them the truth."

Vance sighed internally as he nodded. When Tim opened his mouth to say something Leon was afraid would be apologetic, he shook his head, organizing his thoughts before saying "Tim, my first Team Lead paid someone to kill me on my first operation, in fact he hired me so that he could have me killed, so the agency would return its focus to his preferred area of expertise. When that failed, years later he set up the attack that killed Amit Hadar and seriously injured me…and then again tried to kill me in the hospital. I understand your feelings and yes, if I'd known I would have certainly told the rest of my team."

He was tempted to ask him if he was sure DiNozzo hadn't also known but decided against it. The two were friends, a relationship Vance had witnessed changing through the years; one he thought had been difficult to reach for both men. There'd been enough crap hitting the wall today, McGee didn't need that possibility to be thrown at him.

He watched as Tim walked out, feeling everything that was good about this place had just been diminished. Losing McGee from the Yard was going to impact morale, including his own, even if it was for a promotion. Hearing what Gibbs had done, what Ms. Sciuto had done, that was going to cause a major uproar.

Leaving his work cell with the recording behind, Tim walked down the stairs from the Director's suite, trying to gauge his emotions. The anger and hurt were still there, there was no way either would disappear soon but now there was some relief too. The Director was supportive and Tim still had a job; he'd been prepared to resign. Better, he was being given the chance to pick his next job; that was good and deserved to be celebrated with more than relief. He also found anxiety about telling Tony and Bishop. Not so much Bishop, after Abby's little stunt sucking her into the scheme to humiliate Tim over Bert, Ellie had pulled back a bit from the forensic tech. But Tony…to have to tell his friend about Gibbs, he didn't think he had the words. He'd have to find them, he owed DiNozzo the truth of his sudden promotion and departure. They'd sworn, Tony, Ziva and him after Shepard's lies and manipulations that they'd never lie or withhold the truth from each other, none of them would ever go without backup again. They would not be Gibbs.

Last was the grief. Grief that the man he'd respected, trusted and worked so hard to please had no respect for him and had used him as…what, a source of amusement? Is that why he'd continually assigned Tim to protect Abby when he knew she had no respect for anyone except Gibbs and possibly Ducky? Ducky, oh God. He'd have to tell him.

He was in the parking garage now, his hands starting to tremble with delayed reaction to everything. Clutching the large envelope with the files like a lifeline, Tim got in his car and drove out through the front gate, his time aboard the Navy Yard now belonging to his past.

Written 10.21.15

The End

Note: who knew a canon reason for Tim leaving Gibbs and the team and taking a transfer would appear on the show in Season 13, episode 5, written by Steve Binder, two years after I posted "The Thought" which led to "The Project" and "Finding Home"?

Also, 'zona' is a Hebrew word meaning 'bitch'. Tim learned it from Ziva.


End file.
